The Rise of a New Clique
by C.C. Lyn
Summary: Ripple Baxter and her friend Gwen Anderson starts a clique and aims towards popularity. But how can a clique be made when the beta is better than the alpha?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi people I'm back to write my first non-Inazuma Eleven fic. I started this last summer and man it was tiring doing all that research about designer brands and fashion. Oh well, hope you like it.**

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><p>The Baxters' House<p>

Ripple's Room

Tuesday, August 31

10:55 p.m.

"Hey, Gwen, let's go over the list again."

"But we already went over it 10 times!"

Gwen Anderson rolls over in her sleeping bag to face the opposite way of her friend Ripple Baxter. Annoyed, Ripple pokes Gwen in the shoulder blade. Gwen then responds by giving Ripple a pissed off glance, but ends up looking at a bright flash of light.

"What the-."

Then she saw that Ripple was shining a flashlight in her face. "Fine, you win." Giggling, Gwen turns back towards Ripple and props herself up on her elbows.

The list that they were talking about was a list that Ripple and Gwen had put together throughout summer. According to Ripple, now that the Pretty Committee, the legendary clique that she admires so much, is in high school, the slot for the it girls of 7th grade are open to the public. And it was going to be Ripple and Gwen who are going to form the clique to take the place of the Pretty Committee. Tomorrow they start 7th grade, and everything had to be perfect.

Ripple unfolds a sheet of paper as Gwen peers from the side. "Do you think we put enough?" Ripple asks for what seemed like the thousandths time. "Popular girls aren't supposed to be insecure," Gwen teases.

On the paper were lines and more lines of typed notes.

Ripple and Gwen's To Do List for 7th Grade

Find girls with beta potential

Recruit girls with beta potential

Form a clique with betas

Name clique

Plan sleepovers every Friday night alternating location to different clique member's house every week

Go shopping or hang out at mall or go window shopping with clique every Saturday morning to afternoon

Make friendship bracelets with clique and wear them every Friday

Spray matching fragrances every Monday

Fight for the spot of the it girls

Claim a lunch table to sit at with clique year-round

Critique everyone who walks by our lunch table

Make up slangs only our clique can understand

Teach clique members shopping rules taught by Kristen

Make in and out lists with clique at sleepover

Take a bunch of cute selfies with clique and put on bulletin board in Ripple's room

"Tomorrow we put bullet point 1 into action," commanded Ripple. But instead of listening to Ripple, Gwen was tapping a fingernail painted perfectly with OPI's Hot & Spicy nail polish on her chin.

"When do we wake up tomorrow?" asked Gwen.

"Ehmagosh! We totally forgot about that!" exclaims Ripple.

"I'd say maybe 7:40, and then we will have time to dress, primp, arrive at school in style, choose our lockers, and get to class on time so we can choose seats next to each other for homeroom."

Ripple seemed to agree, so Gwen settled back into her sleeping bag. "If you don't get enough beauty sleep, you will have sleep bags tomorrow," warns Gwen.

That was enough to convince her friend to finally stop fussing and turn off the flashlight.

When she heard Ripple's soft purrs as she slept, Gwen started feeling anxious. Those words that she said to convince Ripple didn't make her believe all would be fine. In fact, she didn't believe any of those words at all.

Even though Ripple claimed that she was going to be the alpha, Gwen knew that Ripple was actually a beta deep inside with popular-girl wannabe thoughts. Gwen secretly thought that she herself would eventually become alpha because she had a lot more alpha potential then Ripple. After all, she was the responsible friend that would always try to reassure other clique members and take matters into her own hands while Ripple was the brat who only cared about herself. So before the betas arrived and kicked Ripple to beta and boosted her to alpha, she needed to play along as Ripple's number one beta.

Gwen stared at the first day of school outfits that she and Ripple had spent so long matching as she tries to tell herself to fall asleep. But the more she stared, the more anxious she got. Earlier today, she had thought that Ripple's outfit of manolo 'chaos' cuff genuine snakeskin sandals paired with a plain white tie-back pleated cami from Forever 21 over taupe cotton stretch Bermuda shorts by Calvin Klein was an improvement in style for Ripple. It wasn't every day that Ripple would actually listen to fashion advice that says, "Don't wear pink".

But now she looked at it, the outfit seemed boring and beta. After all, who wears plain clothes on the first day of 7th grade? Oh yeah, and the pink Roxy abroad bag that Ripple had decided to use as a backpack? It totally clashed with the taupe and white getup.

Then Gwen moved her focus onto her own outfit. Was the leather of her black Miu Miu peep-toe asymmetric-strap pumps shiny enough? Does her Bongo Junior's knit vest with the tiger design go off as lame or cool? Were her Calvin Klein straight-leg indigo wash jeans totally wrinkle free? Did this outfit say "back to school, time to snooze" or "crank up the fun, it's gonna be a blast"? Would her curls do its normal rebelling or would it go all out volcano explosion? Ehmagawd, what if people think her tiger design looked too un-sophisticated compared to the Miu Miu pumps? Were Bongo shirts even _allowed_ in 7th grade?

Finally admitting that she just couldn't fall asleep, Gwen got up and carefully walked to the clothes.

"8.2," Gwen said to herself as she re-rated Ripple's outfit. The rating had dropped from the previous 9.4 to the current 8.2.

Gwen was still uncertain of her cheap Bongo top, so she decided to use this extra time to choose a new outfit. All summer long, She and Ripple had spent days babysitting, delivering newspapers, doing odd jobs for neighbors, selling unwanted clothing items, walking dogs, cleaning houses for neighbors, helping catering ladies, and selling lemonade that they had earned enough money to buy a 7th grade worthy wardrobe. Or more like a few expensive pieces to mix and match with stylish but not so top class clothes from brands like Forever 21 or Bongo.

When she came over to Ripple's house for their sleepover before the first day of school, Gwen had brought two suitcases full of clothes and shoes that had potential along with her Gucci golden beige soho metallic leather shoulder bag that was going to be her backpack for tomorrow. The bag was over a thousand dollars and took forev-ah to save up for. But then her rich dad saw how she was willing to waste her summer saving up money for it, so he agreed to pay for half the price. Even though her dad was super rich, he never let her buy designer labels with his money so she always had to work to get it. Her dad was all about devotion and saying if she really wanted it so much that she would try to get it herself. The super expensive bag was going to be her stylish school bag for the year, so she promised to be extremely careful to keep it clean and in good shape. Since she had worked all summer, her dad decided to give her a credit card and an allowance of $75 a week as a gift for all her hard work. But he had also warned that if she overspent and couldn't pay up, then he was going to take the credit card and weekly allowance away.

Now, she kneeled down and unzipped her first suitcase. The first thing her hands felt was something cool and smooth. Rubbing her fingers at a corner, she discovered that the fabric was silk. When Gwen shined the flashlight at the silk piece, Gwen found out that it was the cheetah silk shirt in pale ale canyon she had bought from Juicy Couture.

"Will do," Gwen mumbled as she searched for a bottom to match. Maybe a pair of light blue distressed jeans. Or even better, a pair of distressed light blue denim jean shorts.

Sadly, Gwen didn't remember buying anything of distressed denim or any denim shorts, and there was no pair of light blue jeans in this suitcase.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Gwen unzipped the second suitcase and started digging through it. The first piece she pulled out was the black pleat midi skirt from Ella Moss that she had bought sometime in the summer. "Ugh!" Gwen huffed as she tossed the ugly skirt to the corner of the room. "Why did I even buy this plain thing?"

Then an idea struck. Gwen crawled over to the skirt which had now landed in a heap and picked up the hem to the cheetah shirt. The black matched the spots on the cheetah print. Then Gwen laid the skirt flat on the ground under the silk shirt. The combination gave off a preppy and feminine feeling. Now all she needed was a pair of shoes that would make the outfit say cute, not teacher's work clothes.

The Miu Miu pumps from before were too bold to match this new outfit, so she needed something else. Quickly, she decided on her 'sedaraby' open toe d'orsay manolo pumps in platino. Then Gwen added three thin gold bangles on her left wrist for the finishing touch. The bangles and the gold shoes looked so ah-dorable with the shirt and skirt. If she tied her hair in a low side-ponytail tomorrow, then she would be an easy 9.7 with her signature smoochies sizzle gloss in Turn Up the Heat from Covergirl. Plus, the Gucci bag totally accented the outfit, making her first day with the new bag a big win, and maybe upgrading her to a 9.8 or even a 9.9.

With her newfound satisfaction, Gwen fell asleep peacefully without the worry of being teased for a cheap shirt.


	2. Chapter 2

The Wang's Toyota Corolla

Westchester, NY

Wednesday, September 1

7:55 a.m.

"This year, I'm expecting you to maintain you GPA so it still continues to stay higher than a 4.0, and I also want to see no Bs or lower on your tests or report cards."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Verity Wang says in a bored voice from the backseat of the Wang's silver Toyota Corolla as she carefully used a wand to swipe From Rags to Riches MAC lipglass dazzleglass to her lips.

It wasn't that she didn't care about her grades; it's just that school has always been too easy for her. From when she can remember, Verity had always gotten straight As without even trying. After all, she had the brain (with a crystal clear photographic memory) of a genius with an IQ of 162. I mean, what kid knows all the states and their capitals at age 5? And what 2nd grader remembered all 88 constellations and knew exactly when and where each one appears? Or how about remembering your 100s times table and learning all the Chinese characters, simplified and traditional, taught to kids in elementary to high school by the time you reach 6th grade? That was exactly the kind of thing that people like Albert Einstein do. And Verity was a prodigy whose IQ matched that of Albert Einstein's.

"Verity! How many times must I tell you to answer me properly?"

"Yes, mom," Verity said more politely this time but then muttered under her breath. "As if I care."

Seeming like her mom didn't hear her rude comment, she continued talking. "Just remember that if you keep trying and getting good grades, then you might be accepted into Yale or Harvard or maybe even Princeton."

As if she even needed to try for the good grades.

"Can't I go to Columbia University? Its closer," Verity whined for like oh, maybe the thousandths time. But it was like the millionths time that her mom had brought up the topic of college.

Her mom stared at her with an expression that was a combination of disgust mixed with disbelief through the car mirror. "Why would you go to Columbia University when you have the chance to go to a better college? Princeton is pretty close too." Her mom was really strict on getting into a good college. That was why her grades mattered so much. And that was also the reason why her mom had said she needed to sacrifice to save up for a good college.

She only got an expensive shirt and a maybe a pair of jeans at most every month while kids around here got new clothes from a shopping spree at least once every month. And only 10% of her wardrobe had designer labels. That was 90% less than the average wardrobe around here.

Verity didn't get any birthday parties after she graduated from preschool. She didn't even get a shopping spree on her birthday. All she received every year is $200 worth of birthday money to last her until next year. And most of those $200 dollars were used to buy jewelry because buying even just one piece of designer wear would chunk off too much of the $200.

She also had to ask for all her year's worth of makeup on Christmas. Verity would ask each relative for a small amount of makeup or a piece of designer clothing. Every time, Verity would make sure that she didn't ask each relative for too much. That was when math came in. But then again, for Verity, the girl who can memorize her 100s times table, dividing makeup and clothes between relatives is a piece of cake.

Her mom worked her hardest so that she could send Verity to Briarwood Octavian Country Day, also known as BOCD, which was a good but expensive private school. She barely had any exotic vacations since the time her dad died in a car crash and left her mom to provide all the money. It wasn't that Verity's family was poor. They were just sort of leaning on the middle class side compared to other rich people around. If her family was on a scale of 1 to 10 with 9 being the average families here, 10 being a millionaire, and 5 being a middle class family, Verity's family would be a 7.

Plus, most of the "extra" money her mother saved up (which Verity desperately needed so she could upgrade her wardrobe) was planned for payment to the college that Verity gets in. Would it hurt her mother just to give her a shopping spree once a year? They weren't _that _needy of money if there was so much extra saved up. After all, why save when you can spend? But her mother didn't seem to have ever heard that saying before.

The only vacations she got while other kids in this rich neighborhood were away for break were going skiing every other year with the Lees, carpooling with the Lees to the beach once every summer, going camping with the Lees every alternating August of the ski trip for two days and one night, and watching fireworks on the fourth of July on the roof of the Lees' house with their only child, Aaron (but technically, it wasn't a vacation because it was next door and she had snuck up there every time with Aaron). She was forced to waste her spring break every year since fourth grade to take enrichment classes that prepare you for college. And there was no feast on Thanksgiving. Only sharing a turkey with the Lee family.

But Verity would choose these little moments over exotic vacations in a heartbeat. Because being there with Aaron Lee made these little moments into priceless memories. Memories that rich kids can't buy and you can't earn on a lonely exotic vacation.

Verity had known Aaron since she was born, because her mother and father (before he died) were good friends with the Lees. Verity had discovered after some eavesdropping that her mother and father had went to the same school as Aaron's parents. Her mother and Aaron's mother were best friends and the fathers were too. Then they eventually fell in love and decided that the four of them would be inseparable. Well, at least they were until Verity's father had died.

Verity remembered her and Aaron crawling together when they were toddlers and playing on the play structures together in preschool. In fact, Aaron had been with her on every vacation that she could remember. Plus he lived next door on the second floor like her, so they could jump into each other's room through the window every night if they wanted. Jumping through windows two meter apart was a tasked that risked you life, but Verity and Aaron had done it so many times it was as easy as breathing.

Verity couldn't remember a time when he wasn't there for her. She had grown up with him. It was impossible for Verity to imagine a life without Aaron. He was also the only person that Verity trusted and considered an actual friend.

You would think that a genius like her would never be friendless, but she was. That was because Verity had grown a habit of lying and using people. But whenever a "friend" strays away, Verity would just tell herself that her intelligence didn't deserve someone as crappy as the ditcher. But deep inside, she would cry. Her habit had developed from not trusting anyone but Aaron when her so-called friend in fourth grade said that Verity was a show off and skipped away to some other girls to giggle and whisper. Then the girl and her group of friends teased her daily and spread rumors about Verity until Verity started cutting herself then attempted suicide.

One night, she had snuck out to the roof of the school. Standing at the edge, she had closed her eyes had let her body tip forward until it fell. But instead of feeling her feet lose its connection with the surface, she had felt someone grab her hand. When she opened her eyes in surprise, she found out that is was Aaron.

Aaron was mad at her and made her spill why she had wanted to suicide. He had followed her to the school when he saw Verity sneak out of her house suspiciously. Verity ended up crying and telling Aaron all her fourth grade horror stories. In the end, Aaron hugged Verity and said that he would be there for her and protect her forever. That was the moment her crush had developed on Aaron. The next day, Aaron insisted that they both get their ears pierced and each wear a diamond stud on one year to symbolize this promise. He also gave her a Pandora winged guardian angel charm that afternoon. And to this day, Verity still treasures the earring and charm.

But even now, those scary memories still haunted her. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't forget about them.

Even last night, she had stayed awake tossing and turning, worrying about the girls that she would meet in 7th grade. Would she finally make some real friends that were girls?

Verity had hoped that she could have a real friend who was a girl to gossip with and share secrets with. Even though Aaron knew her so well and could read her thoughts and lies like an open book, Verity still wanted a friend who could be her sister. Aaron is a good friend, but I mean c'mon, who tells their best-friend-who-is-a-boy-but-not-a-boyfriend-although-you-hope-he-will-be who your crush is? That would just be weird and embarrassing. And if you don't have a female friend, who do you talk to for fashion advice? Certainly not your friend-who-is-a-boy-and-don't-care-about-clothes-even-though-he-is-the-only-person-that-truly-gets-you.

But not making a friend is still better than meeting your long lost ex-friend who made you attempt suicide after 3 years. Verity hoped that her ex-friend didn't recognize her. She had grew out her bangs and straightened her hair the summer after 4th grade. She also used to wear glasses with thick black frames in 4th grade but then changed to contacts the year after when her ex-friend teased her for the ugly glasses. The only thing that could give her away was the scars left from cutting herself on the otherwise perfect skin of her forearm.

For protection against more mean girls, Verity had decided to keep an air of perfection around her since the beginning of fifth grade when she asked her mom to transfer her from the A wing where her old "friends" were to the B wing along with Aaron. That meant she had to be smart and pretty. But that also meant that she needed to act cold and distant to strangers and had to look bored often.

The "smart" part was easy for her, but the "pretty" part was a little harder. Not all people appreciated Chinese people to be pretty. So to prove that she was, last summer, Verity had washed away all her acne and waxed her arms and legs. She had also spent the last two weeks before school started to starve herself until she was barely 90 pounds. Her height of 5'3" was pretty normal, so height was not a problem.

It was the first day of middle school, and she had to make a good impression. Today, she had chosen a simple 'seaside' stripe drawstring neck tee from Ella Moss over dark gray ultra stretch jeans from Uniqlo paired with black 'Chaos Chain' manolo sandals. Too bad she didn't have enough time to save up her budget to get a cool bag, so she was stuck with her black city scout Jansport backpack with the laptop compartment which she had slung on one shoulder. Inside the laptop compartment was her silver MacBook Air which matched the silver iPhone 5s in her jean pocket.

A silver Pandora charm bracelet hung from her bony wrist as the guardian angel charm dangled next to a Scorpio charm, the former for a sense of protection and the latter as a good luck charm. The Scorpio charm also was a reminder that she herself as a Scorpio would always keep secrets locked up from others. On her right ear was the single diamond stud.

"Honey, we're here." Her mom's voice interrupts her chain of thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, Okay! Bye mom!" Verity hopped off the car with her backpack. She just kept telling herself, "Keep lying to everyone. If all they see is your perfection, then you can keep hiding."

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><p><strong>So yeah, I got a few people thinking that Verity is too extreme and exaggerated, but she is supposed to be like this. More details about her will be revealed throughout the story so bear with me pwease:)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Math Classroom

Briarwood Octavian Country Day

Wednesday, September 1

10:05 a.m.

_Sheesh._

Ever since this girl sat down next to her when second period started at 9:15, she had not been paying attention to the teacher. Normally, if a random student wasn't listening, Gwen wouldn't even bat an eyelash. But this girl was distracting. No, more than just distracting. She was flat out _ah-noy-ing._ But she had no idea why this girl made her attention turn.

Right now, the girl was drumming her perfectly French manicured nails on the desk while her head rested on her other hand which was propped up on the table. She had fair, flawless skin, dark brown eyes, and straight, black hair that reached the middle of her back. The girl also wore a tee with stripes and plain gray jeans.

Maybe it was her attitude. Or maybe it was her perfect posture. It could even be the way she dressed.

But wait a sec. Her clothes were plain and not designer-looking (except for the tee because Gwen had saw it at Ella Moss, but it was still plain), so it couldn't be her clothes. Gwen was sure she wasn't jealous about the girl's hair or skin even though they were model worthy because her auburn curls were famous for beauty and her own skin was perfect too. Oh yeah, and her eyes? Gwen knew that her own light green eyes outshined the girl's dark brown ones.

So what drew her focus onto that girl?

Breaking her thoughts, the math teacher suddenly spoke a comment directed at the girl next to her. "Verity, it seems like you think this class is too easy."

The girl simply glanced at the teacher. "'Cause it is," she said in a bored voice.

Gwen seriously thought that their teacher was going to grab the nearest textbook to hit the girl. Luckily, he didn't. Instead, the teacher sighed and furrowed his brows. "I've heard of your attitude in elementary school. If you really think this class is too easy, then come up here and solve this problem."

"No prob," said the girl, who Gwen just learned was named Verity. Verity got out of her chair gracefully and stalked up to the whiteboard. Gwen suddenly notices that the girl had paired black high heels with a chain cuff with the outfit. Could it be this girl's fashion sense that attracted her attention? In a way, Verity had dressed in a quiet sort of beauty that was (Gwen admits) prettier than most girls. Sort of like how you look at a water lily in a pond. She had an air of perfection surrounding her like how the petals of a water lily fan out around the center.

Wait, that was it. It was Verity's perfection that made her so ah-noy-ing. The "I'm in a different class with the rest of you" attitude, her perfect posture and the graceful way she moved, and her quiet beauty that made her stand out from the rest was what made Gwen can't stop thinking about her. Realizing this, Gwen turned her gaze back to Verity.

The teacher had drawn a cylinder on the board and had told Verity to solve the height of it when only the diameter and the volume were given. Normally, an algebra question like this would take Gwen about a minute to solve with pencil and paper, but Verity took one glance at the numbers, paused for ten seconds as she calculated it in her brain, then blurted out the answer. The math teacher gapped in shock at Verity's quick mental math as she stalked back to her seat and sat down again.

Guess the girl also had a perfect brain to seal the package.

Right when the girl sat down, Verity met Gwen's eyes. As they stared at each other for two seconds, Gwen felt a rush of electricity course through her brain. Then Verity shifted her gaze back to the front of the room, and the spark was gone. But the feeling remained. Gwen could tell that this girl was special and could be way better than a friend Ripple was. This girl had alpha potential. Verity had_ it. _

Just in time, Gwen heard the bell ring. In an instant, kids got up from their desks and charged out the room. But Gwen acted casual and took her time while secretly stalling so she could see how Verity walks out the classroom when there is a horde of students cramming the door. Every girl with _it_ should know that an alpha always get others to go around herself.

"Excuse me," said Verity as she casually walks out the classroom. When she said that with the perfect attitude of hers, everyone stopped and sort of moved aside for her to cross.

Gwen made a note to self: Verity was definitely leading at the top on her list of possible number one betas.


	4. Chapter 4

The Lunch Line

The Café

Wednesday, September 1

11:15 a.m.

Gwen felt lost.

Not like _I don't know where my mommy is_ lost, but more like _the world is overwhelming and I'm not sure how to fit in _lost.

But wait a sec. Gwen was an alpha. And alphas have to know the social order. No, not just know. They have to be in charge of it.

Taking a big breath, Gwen tried to drone out the dizzying chatter of students in the lunch line. She had came to the café a little late, and now the lunch line was super long and took forev-ah. Earlier, Ripple had texted Gwen to find a lunch table and save all the seats until she came. But it looked like all the tables in the best places were already claimed by the blonde cheerleaders of the school's cheerleading squad The Briarwood Babes who cheer for BOCD's boys' soccer team The Briarwood Tomahawks. The hawtest boys and the two prettiest cheerleaders sat at the table where the sunlight from the window hit them perfectly like a spotlight from heaven while the not-as-attractive cheerleaders and the normal soccer boys sat at tables around the "spotlight". One of the two cheerleaders that sat at The Table was Jennifer while the other was her beta best friend Pandora. Everyone knew that Jennifer was the captain of the Briarwood Babes and that Pandora was her second in command.

Gwen remembered Jennifer from her elementary school times. The teachers loved Jennifer ever since she walked through the doors of kindergarten and has kissed her butt ever since. Gwen also remembered that all the boys had fallen heads over heels for Jennifer when they were in fourth grade and has continued to do that to present times. One bat of her thick, long eyelashes could fool a teacher and free her from punishment. Because adults can't stand looking at Jennifer's innocent pastel robin egg blue eyes. But Gwen knew better. That innocence was faked in front of adults. In the blink on an eye, those innocent eyes could change into a seductive glance.

And one toss of her wavy light blonde hair could steal a boy who has dated his girlfriend for two years. Really. Gwen saw that actually happen with her own eyes last year when Jennifer stole Leonard, the Briarwood Boys' star player, from Laurie Young. It wasn't that Laurie was ugly. In fact, the contrast of the girl's olive eyes from her thin, glossy, layered brown hair was stunningly beautiful. And the girl wasn't fat either. She was clearly a size four just like Gwen.

But Laurie was still no competition for Jennifer.

Gwen relieved the scene in her mind. _Laurie was hugging Leonard after the Briarwood Boys won a game. Jennifer walked up to the couple with Pandora following close behind. The couple separated their hug when they saw the two blondes, but still held each other's hands. "C'mon, Leonard. If you don't come quick, we're going to be late for the celebratory party," Jennifer said. "Go without me," Leonard had said, "I already promised Laurie a date." Then Jennifer shot a poisonous glance at Laurie which Leonard missed but Gwen and Laurie hadn't and replied, "Are you really going to choose your girlfriend over us?" There was a second off hesitation, and then Leonard said to Laurie, "Laurie, wanna come to the party with us?" Laurie had looked disappointed, but said yes. "Sor-ree, It's for players or cheerleaders only! I don't remember her being on the team, do you, Pandora?" Like a good beta, Pandora shook her head. "So, coming or not?" Jennifer asked Leonard. "No thanks," the boy replied. "Your loss. It's your life," Jennifer said, then turned on the heels of her pure white cheer shoes, tossed her luscious hair, then started walking away with Pandora. Suddenly, Leonard shouted, "Wait up! I changed my mind!" and ran after Jennifer without even giving an apologetic glance at Laurie. _

Gwen also remembered guiltily that she was kind of relieved that it was Laurie and not her.

The second best tables were all already claimed by wannabe cliques. Even all the C-lister tables were mostly full. No matter how desperate Gwen needed a table, she would ne-vuh give away her dignity by sitting at a table with normal people that weren't LBRs yet, but isn't exactly on the B-list, aka the losers not yet beyond repair. Alphas lead glamorous lives, nawt boring regular ones.

One glance at the D-lister tables made Gwen shudder. Those were the dirty chairs and tables that were in inconvenient spots like in front of the trash can and next to where the loud and bossy cafeteria monitor stood. Just think of the horror her perfect complexion will have to face when she has to fake smile and listen to some LBR rant about something whatevs while being pelted by the spit coming from the loser's mouth with braces. That would be a direct ticket to all things spelled _LBR_.

A voice interrupted her thoughts and pulled Gwen back to the cafeteria of doom.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The voice came from behind her back. Gwen turned around and saw that is was the girl from before.

She was walking towards Gwen. When Verity got closer, she cut a bunch of kids in line and squeezed into the spot behind Gwen. Instead of telling her to "shove it", the students behind just backed up to make space for Miss I'm-so-perfect-and-you're-not.

Half out of surprise and half out of gratitude (thank goodness no one else saw her while she was in her own little world or else her chance for alpha would be gone), Gwen quickly set her face into a normal expression and replied, "Yeah, but you don't have to point it out so the whole world will know."

"You should thank me for helping you, not blame me, you know," the girl fired back, "The whole world would have known if you kept on spacing off without me pointing it out."

It was actually a great comeback, using what the other said to shoot back at them, but Gwen would nev-uh admit that she was once placed in an uncomfortable position by another girl. So all she did was arch her eyebrows and said, "Are you sure?"

Verity gave a little smirk. "You think anyone without owl ears can hear me in this deaf zone?"

Gwen had to laugh a little at this one. Verity gave a little giggle too. Gwen took that as a good sign that they were equal.

Even though Ripple had told Gwen that they would compare their lists for potential betas before anyone got recruited, Gwen pushed the thought aside. Ripple had went behind her back many times before, so why not start now? Perfect chances don't come as easily as chipped manicures.

"Wanna sit together over there?" Gwen asked, pointing at a table near the door. Verity glanced around at the lunchroom and stopped where Gwen was pointing. "It's not like we have many choices," she replied.

"Great," Gwen said with a little smile, but inside, she thought, "Step one: complete." Now for step two. _Become best friends with Verity to replace Ripple._


	5. Chapter 5

The Café

Briarwood Octavian Country Day

Wednesday, September 1

11:20

The first sound Ripple heard when she stepped into the cafeteria doors in her snakeskin manolos was a tinkling hysterical laughter that rang clear from the center of the room. There were other sounds of course, like the chit-chattering and giggling between friends and the "Hey! Watch it!" that happened whenever some scrawny kid accidently bumped into a jock, but this laugh stood out. Turning her head toward the direction where it came from, Ripple saw a group of gorgeous tanned blonde cheerleaders from the Briarwood Babes flirting, eating lunch, and joking with the hawtest players of the school's male soccer team the Briarwood Tomahawks. A beam of sunlight from the window shone over them perfectly like a spotlight from the alpha gods. The table that they sat at was directly at the center where everyone can see them.

Ripple instantly knew that this was going to be her 7th grade lunch table. But it was already claimed. So what does a girl who wants a table do? Fight for it, of course.

She walked over to them in her best model walk, the one that Gwen had practiced with her in the summer, and tried to set her face into the fearless expression that Massie Block so often used. When Ripple looked at Gwen walk like this, Gwen had definitely looked like an alpha, so Ripple was sure the way her hips swayed were oozing confidence.

Trying to imitate an alpha's pose, Ripple stopped with one hand on her hip and the other dangling by her thighs. Her chin was lifted up to add some bonus points for a snotty attitude aura. In Ripple's own opinion, she thought this was definitely alpha.

But as Ripple stood there, the Briarwood Babes didn't even give her as much as a glance. Being totally ignored while standing there in that position, Ripple became more and more self-conscious. Why didn't they see that someone more important than them was waiting in front of them? But Ripple couldn't wait for them much longer. This pose that she is using right now is nawt one made for a beta. So she decided to take action.

"Ex-kyoo-zuh me," Ripple said coolly.

Everyone at the table stopped talking and turned their attention towards Ripple, the two blonde cheerleaders with bored and annoyed expressions while the jocks looked like they just wanted to know why Ripple was here.

Finally, the tanner blonde with gold, layered hair and light brown highlights spoke up.

"Yes?"

"Do you guys mind if I told you to moov-uh to another table?" asked Ripple.

The blonde raised her eyebrows and turned to her friend with pastel robin egg blue eyes. Then they both burst into laughter. Through giggles, the girl with pastel robin egg blue eyes said, "Come back later when you've mastered your totally fake confidence."

The boys at the table kind of chuckled and exchanged glances because none of them really understood what she had said. The tanned blonde, on the other hand, high fived Blue a deep breath to calm herself from punching the blondes, Ripple shot back, "I'll be back once you master your sense of humor.""Don't worry hon, I already have," said Blue Eye, "But I'll see you around once you master your comebacks."The tanned blonde broke into hysterics, and the people sitting at tables around them turned to see what was going on. Biting back tears, Ripple turned on the heels of her manolos and speed-walked toward the door.

From behind her, she could hear the tanned blonde calling after her saying, "Hey, girlie, what's the rush? Don't you have time to waddle away like how you came?"

Everyone sitting at the table and around laughed this time and Ripple broke into a run, not caring that she was wearing super expensive heels. Embarrassment did a lot more damage to the ego than ruined high heels to wallets.

Why wasn't Gwen here? Where was her best friend when you needed her? Ripple remembered clearly that she had instructed Gwen to come to the café and find a good table with enough seats for a clique.

Then as she neared the exit from this horrible place, she saw her best friend sitting with _that girl_. The one she saw that morning climbing out of a silver Toyota Corolla and carrying a Jansport.

Ripple felt a wave of dizziness and a rush of abandonment. Gwen had befriended that totally middle class girl before confiding with her. Gwen, the one who promised to make a clique with her. Gwen, her best friend who could have saw that she was in a tight situation and come stand up for her. But her best friend had chosen someone else over her.

The last thing Ripple saw before her vision was too blurred with tears was Gwen staring at her with her with lips slightly parted and the girl sitting next to her smiling a mocking grin.


	6. Chapter 6

The Café

Briarwood Octavian Country Day

Wednesday, September 1

11:25 a.m.

Kaitlin Martinez had seen the whole scene unfold with her honey chocolate brown eyes from the very beginning as she sat at a table with Faye Parker. Faye was a sweet girl with blonde beach waves and greenish grey eyes. She had been sort-of friends with Faye since their elementary school days. But Faye was more like someone Kaitlin could find if she needed someone to sit next to or partner up with for a project instead of an actual best friend. When school was out, they both went their separate way.

But it was okay. Kaitlin didn't need a best friend. Because she was BOCD's B wing's famed Gossip Queen.

From Kaitlin's point of view, the girl with uneven skin tones and deep fried blonde hair who approached the cheerleader's table earlier was full of confidence, but she had lacked cool. If the girl had a little cool, then she wouldn't have cried in front of the whole school or let the other girls get the best of her with trash talking.

Kaitlin envied how brave that girl had been to walk up to those cheerleaders who think they own the school. Kaitlin would never do something that daring, even if she is the source of all juicy gossip. Instead, Kaitlin was more of the insult-me-now,-backstab-you-later type.

The painful truth was that the cheerleaders did look like they own the school, and they probably did. No one else in the cafeteria looked as pretty or attractive as them. Except for two girls who sat by the door.

Kaitlin recognized one of them immediately because she had spent her earlier years in the same wing as her. BOCD was divided into an A wing and a B wing before combining in seventh grade. Kaitlin and that girl both went to the B wing. The girl was a super smart Asian kid who dissed the teachers and never had any friends except for a boy older than her. Strange thing was that they weren't dating or anything. And the boy was hawt enough to find himself a girlfriend. But Kaitlin didn't remember the boy ever having any romantic history before, except being asked out by a few pretty girls and rejecting them all.

If he did have a girlfriend, even in secret, then she would know. Because gossip was her specialty. That was why everyone from the B wing knew her as the Gossip Queen.

Kaitlin guessed that the other girl who had auburn curls probably came from the A wing because this was the first time Kaitlin had seen her. The girl who ran out earlier and the two cheerleaders were also probably from the A wing too, for she had not seen them around before either.

Sighing, Kaitlin stood up from her seat.

"Where are you going?" asked Faye, eyeing Kaitlin's unfinished salad. With another sigh, Kaitlin answered, "Outside."

Luckily, Faye didn't ask more questions. She just nodded and continued eating her veggie burger. Good thing Faye wasn't the gossip-y type like her or else she might lose her popularity status when people hear that she was going outside to comfort the crying girl.

Kaitlin walked over to the door and dropped off her unfinished salad at the trash can along the way.

On the way out, the Asian girl caught her eyes and raised her eyebrows, as in saying, "You're serious-leh going outside to comfort that loser?"Kaitlin slowed down her pace and stared back steadily but strongly, giving off the message, "Yes. Got a problem with that?" The Asian girl smiled slyly, clearly amused, but then turned her attention back to her auburn haired friend who was picking at her salad with a troubled expression.

What ran through Kaitlin's mind first was, "That girl definitely has a lot more cool than the girl earlier." Then a second thought popped in and Kaitlin scowled in her head. "What does she have against everyone anyway?" Why does she even care? The girl sure never showed any care for anything or anyone before. Unless… she is going to use it for gossip?

If that girl ever tattled to the public, then Kaitlin's popularity would definitely plummet. Everyone knows that you don't hang around losers unless you are one. And Kaitlin was not going to be labeled as one. Especially by some friendless teacher disser.

To show that she didn't care, although she totally did, Kaitlin tossed her hair in front of the girl and strode confidently out the door, hoping that her reaction would make the girl change her mind about spreading the gossip.

She could have sworn the girl snickered under her breath.


	7. Chapter 7

Behind the Café

Briarwood Octavian Country Day

Wednesday, September

11:30 a.m.

_Rustle rustle._

Hearing those sounds, Ripple stopped mid-sniffle. If someone was coming, it was better if she hid.

Due to her fast reflexes developed from skateboarding and surfboarding, Ripple quickly crawled behind a prickly bush (while avoiding the pain of thorns scraping her perfectly toned-from-boarding calves) and slouched down as low as she could without scarring her back.

Shutting her eyes and trying to remain as still and silent as possible, Ripple prayed to Gawd that the sound of footsteps heading this way was Principle Burns taking the shortcut to the parking lot to get something from her car, not some classmate who wants to rub the previous 10 minutes in her face.

But no such arms parted the bush, and Ripple looked up to see a girl with luscious, voluminous chocolate light brown eyes met the girl's honey chocolate brown one's and Ripple felt a tingling sensation as if all time had stopped.

Kaitlin felt the exact same electric connection when she stared into the girl's light brown eyes which were brightened with childish innocence despite it being red and swollen from the crying.

The brunette blinked, and Ripple was snapped out of her trance. "Oh great," thought Ripple glumly, "Now she probably thinks I'm a spacing off lunatic other than just being a big crybaby. Great start on making progress as an instead of making fun of her, the brunette just smiled and crawled behind the bush too, just not nimbly as Ripple had, seeming as if not caring that the branches were snagging at her designer sat next to Ripple, and an awkward silence passed between them. Ripple wasn't sure whether to a) make eye contact, b) say hi, or c) ask the brunette why she was here. She wanted to do d), run away, but unfortunately, running away was not an option for an alpha, so she had to go with the next best answer.

Kaitlin heard a cracked "Hey" from the girl sitting next to her. So she swiveled her head and made eye contact with the girl. The electric feeling wasn't there anymore, but in its place, Kaitlin felt a warm, fluffy feeling dragging her towards the girl. Not literally, of course, or else she might as well have been insane. But you know, more like how you had always belonged together. But don't mistake it as a lovey dovey feeling either, because Kaitlin knew that she was definitely, _definitely _not lesbian.

"Soooo, why are you here?" Ripple asked the mysterious brunette as she tried to pump confidence into her words. The girl smiled shyly and said, "Well, I saw your, uh, let's say, cafeteria _performance. _That was so brave of you.""Thanks," Ripple replied. Hearing those words had brought a real smile to her face. Ripple felt alpha confidence slowly starting to flow back in through her pores.

"I'm Ripple," she told the brunette.

"Kaitlin. Nice to meet you," the other girl said while smiling sweetly.

"Wanna hang at the mall after school? I can give you a ride home after."

"Really? But we just met…"

Ripple saw hesitance in her possible second real friend, and quickly tries to reassure Kaitlin. "Of course! How else do you make new friends? We should exchange numbers too."

"Thanks," Kaitlin said and Ripple thought to herself behind all the happiness from meeting Kaitlin in that tiny, not-so-nice corner of her brain, "Gwen, you found a beta without me, now I did the same. Two can play at that game."


	8. Chapter 8

In the Hallways

Briarwood Octavian Country Day

Wednesday, September 1

3:02 p.m.

"God, did I mess up again?" Verity muttered to herself as she _click-clacked _along the hallway to her locker.

Earlier, when she caught the brunette girl's eyes, she had been meaning to try to hint her that she had a period stain on her pants. But unfortunately, it didn't seem like the girl had got what Verity was trying to say with her eyes. Verity had never been good at expressing her feelings or what she was actually thinking, and what appeared on the outside was always that bored "I'm superior and perfect" look or a sly grin with eyes full of mystery.

She guessed that what the girl saw was probably the latter.

The brunette probably thought that she was a gossip and was going to tell the whole school that she, a really pretty and popular girl, chose by will to hang out with an embarrassing best thing Verity could do before more people started hating her (as if they all don't do that already) was to tell the girl the truth about her pants so that girl would think that it was just a big misunderstanding.

But no matter where she looked during her passing periods, she just couldn't find the girl. She even asked a teacher for a bathroom pass once to see if she could peek through the tiny glass part of the classroom doors so that she could figure out which class the brunette was having and catch her before her next class.

Verity may be superior and slightly rude and judgmental sometimes, but she was not a cruel person who would ruin someone's social life on purpose, especially since she knew how it felt.

She sighed out of frustration and opened her locker, but to have it jammed."Oh great," she muttered under her breath, followed by a cuss word. She pulled the handle hard with her newfound frustration turned anger, and the locker door exploded open all of a sudden and slammed onto the girl whose locker was next to her.

Verity turned to the girl and was about to apologize when she noticed… _uh oh._The girl who her locker door slammed on was the girl she had been looking for all day."Way to explain a misunderstanding when you just nailed them in the shoulder with your locker door," Verity though glumly to herself.

Meanwhile with Kaitlin, she was thinking angrily, "Serious-leh? First she spread gossip about me and now she attacks me with her locker?"

Kaitlin rubbed the spot where the locker had made contact and said, "What was that for? I never did anything to you. First lunch, and now this? What do you have against me anyway?"

_ Is she… accusing me?_ That was the first thought that instinctively popped into Verity's mind. She had been very sensitive to these since the bullying incident in 4th grade. Now, all the thoughts of apologizing were gone and in its place was the rage of being misunderstood that she knew all too well.

"Well sorry to you, but what are you blaming me for? It's not my fault your huge boobs jiggled so much they probably spilled out of your bra cups," Verity snarled at the girl.

Kaitlin was a little taken back by the insult, and her eyes widened in shock as a blush surged up her face. "You're one to talk," Kaitlin said after sizing up the girl's AA cups and a second's delay, "You don't even _have_ boobs!"

Kaitlin wondered how the other girl remained so cool and collected after all these embarrassing insults. Kaitlin had tried not to blush earlier, but she had still felt the heat rising in her face. Right now, Kaitlin was trying to hide the fact that she was flustered and was never good at comebacks and insults while the other girl stared at her calmly with the raised eyebrows and amused eyes that she had flashed Kaitlin during lunch.

"At least I'm not the one walking around with a period stain," Verity informed the sputtering brunette in front of her with an eerie sudden change of tone from angry to back in control. She knew that whenever she calmed down, her comebacks were always on target. Right now, it looked like Verity's little insult had hit properly and that she had won the fight when the other girl lifted her poncho and looked down on her vintage gold Ralph Lauren stretch-leather pants and screamed.

Kaitlin couldn't believe her own eyes when she saw that there, indeed, was a big red wet spot soaking _that part _of her pants.

"How could this have happened? How did she put paint there without me noticing?" Kaitlin frantically thought as a million possibilities flashed through her mind. _Maybe she put a hose that sprayed red paint under me? Did she have a partner in crime who splashed it on me when I was distracted by her insults? Is it possible that the girl in front of me right now is a witch who suddenly made my eyes see red? Or…did I really get my period?_

"Why didn't you tell me earlier at lunch?" Kaitlin whimpered. Maybe the girl had been spreading gossip about her period stain too.

Hearing those words, Verity snapped out of her mini victory gloat. How could she have forgotten that she was here to explain and apologize, not make it worse? And here she was, her say-a-mean-comeback security instincts kicking in and taking over the side of her that hid behind the perfect face and carefully considered the consequences before acting. There was only one option left…

Verity willed her face to soften and hoped that for once it would show some emotion to convince the girl. "I tried to tell you," Verity said, "at lunch…" She drifted the last word off to make it seem like she was sincere, which she was, but never sounded like except when talking to Aaron. And those sincere moments they had were only occasionally because usually Verity never had to tell Aaron how she felt. He had always knew when he looked into her eyes which never revealed what she felt inside, but somehow, Aaron could see through it, straight to her heart.

"Did you say anything? Didn't sound like it," the brunette scoffed.

"What was I supposed to do, shout, 'You need tampons,' loud enough so that you could hear and everyone else too?" Verity snapped.

Kaitlin narrowed her eyes at the girl in front of her. How did she start out rude then suddenly to apologetic and now impatient in a few seconds? It was as frustrating to figure out as how to fit holiday shopping under a budget.

_"What is she doing?" _thought Verity, arching her lips to a perfect but subtle angry-pout and crossed her arms in response, _"Is she trying to figure me out? Or is she trying to get me to break?" _It was very important that she figured it out, because the attitude and glare she put up could lead her to her downfall if she guessed wrong.

Finally, the brunette seemed to loosen up a little in front of her. "Okay, fine, truce," she said, holding her hands up in front of her chest. "And then she smiled sheepishly and lowered her voice. "Can I borrow a you-know-what?"

Verity blinked at the girl's smile. She quickly regained composure and smiled back. "Sure. We should go to the Nurse Adele's office to get you new pants too. Hang on a sec, I think I have one of _that_ _thing_ for emergencies in my bag…


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry for the slow update. I was a busy with my other stories, and kind of forgot to update this one. But thank you for continuing to support me. I PROMISE to upload soon. **

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><p>The Great Lawn<p>

In front of the Baxters' blue Chevy

Wednesday, September 1

3:05 p.m.

"C'mon let's go to the mall and chill at Pinkberry," Gwen said as she slid next to Ripple into the backseat of the Baxters' blue Chevy. Gwen felt guilty of what happened at lunch and wanted to talk it through with Ripple to make sure that she knew it was just a misunderstanding.

But Ripple didn't even look up from the screen of her yellow Nokia Lumia. All Gwen heard in reply was a _hnn._

"Rip, what's wrong with you? You've been checking your phone all this time!" Dune Baxter, Ripple's seventeen year old brother joked from the driver's seat. "Is she avoiding me?" Gwen wondered, a little annoyed even though it was kind of her fault.

Finally Ripple looked up from her phone. "We're waiting for somebody," she replied coolly. "Who?" Gwen asked in her if on cue, a girl about 5'3" with bronzed skin and B-cups opened the door and climbed into the car, followed by a pretty Asian girl the same height. Verity.

When Ripple saw them get into the car, she suddenly became bubbly and excited, totally different from when Gwen got in. "Oh hey, you're finally here. I was worried that— Hey! Who's that?" Ripple's expression changed from gleeful to suspicious when her eyes drifted to the second girl. "Why is _she_ here?" Ripple glared at Verity. The first girl crossed her arms and replied, "I invited her."

"You could have informed me first," Ripple huffed angrily. "You were the one who said you wanted to make friends," the brunette said, defending the girl behind her. Ripple rolled her eyes but scooted over to make enough room. Before she sat down, Verity and Gwen exchanged a secret smile.

Then the foursome sat in awkward silence for the rest of the drive with Gwen wondering if she could keep the only beta she has so far, never mind even making a top clique.


	10. Chapter 10

Saks Fifth Avenue

The Westchester Mall

Wednesday, September 1

3:30 p.m.

"It's not fair. I actually _tried _being nice this time. But all I got is being stuck with this ah-noying wannabe," Verity fumed inside her head.

The foursome had decided to go straight to clothing stores instead of gossiping at Pinkberry first because of the awkward tension between them. Gwen wanted to get to know Kaitlin better so the two of them (who Verity suspected were the richer of the foursome) went to Michael Kors together. And now she was stuck with the annoying blonde who was super babyish, had absolutely no fashion sense, and was harder to ditch than tan lines.

Verity felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hey." Speak of the devil.

She whirled around and snarled, "What?"

Baby Blonde (As Verity decided to nickname her) seemed a little taken back. "Sheesh, no need to be angry. I was just going to ask if you wanted a spritz of the sample perfume," Baby Blonde said, holding out a bottle in Verity's face.

"Eww! Get that thing away from me!" Verity shrieked, "I have my own, thanks. And unlike you, I prefer to nawt to smell like cheap synthetic cotton candy."

Ripple frowned. She didn't get why this girl had to overreact and act like perfume under $50 was worse than the LBR-who-sat-behind-you's garlic breath stuck in your hair. Ripple rolled her eyes even though she knew that the girl was still glaring at her. What did Gwen even see in someone so middle class with such a big attitude?

"You know what? Why don't you go to some kiddie apparel like Crazy 8 and leave me alone to shop in peace?" the girl said, exasperated.

"Well, why don't you leave me and Gwen alone and shop in Chanel by yourself? You may have the attitude and maybe even the budget, but at least I have friends!" Ripple shouted back. The words were out before she could think what was coming out. Ripple expected the girl to be shocked that such a hotshot like herself was disliked. But no. The girl looked completely calm, other than the fact that her eyes did flare, not of anger but of excitement, and she even smirked a little.

Verity was impressed. She would never have guessed that such a brat would be able to come up with a comeback like that. This was getting fun. This girl had way better comebacks than the brunette. It had been so long since she actually had a good verbal battle. Her next attack was launched. "Friends? As in plural? I thought you only had one! Wait I got it. You're also counting imaginary ones, am I right?"

Okay, so this girl wasn't completely a wannabe who would break down after one insult. In fact, she looked hungry for it. Ripple, just didn't get why. And in all the comebacks, the girl kept her cool while Ripple was shouting. But anyway, she was getting ticked off big time.

"How 'bout you? Let's see if you even have one imaginary friend! I bet even they can't stand you!"

"Sorry, girly, do you mean that you can't stand me? Don't worry, I can't stand you either,"

Finally Ripple couldn't take it anymore. "Why don't you go away and never come back?"

She expected the other girl to just fire back, but this time, the girl just glare at her then finally turned on her heels and walked out the door. But even as she left, the glare that the girl gave her was imprinted in her head. There was something hidden in it, even if it only revealed itself for a second. She could detect pain and hurt, possibly of an old wound.


End file.
